Washington Senate Election: Dino Rossi vs. Patty Murray
Bios:
*Dino Rossi, Republican:As a Republican, he believes in decreasing the amount of government spending. He has served on the Washington State Senate before (1997-2003) and was a chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, where he was in charge of controlling the state budget. In 2004, he became the most successful gubernatorial candidate for Republicans in decades by appealing to other Party members (moderate Democrats and Independents). He is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the School of Business at Seattle University.
*Patty Murray, Democrat:· Murray is now serving her third term in the Senate and started out as an advocate for children’s rights. She is also an advocate for veterans’ rights. Murray serves on the Senate of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee. As a Democrat, she supports universal healthcare. She also supports increased border security. Some of her main concerns are to improve transportation and public projects.
Key Issues in Election: *Government spending *Healthcare
Polls: Current popularity polls: *Rossi (R): 48% *Murray (D): 46%
When "leaners" are included: *Rossi: 50% *Murray: 47%
Favorability from Washington voters: *Rossi: 25% Very Favorably, 26% Very Unfavorably *Murray: 30% Very Favorably, 32% Very Unfavorably
Relations to Party Platforms: Rossi: *Economy: Rossi supports restricted government spending. This is one of the primary platforms for Republicans so he is perfectly aligned with them on that. He believes the Obama stimulus package has done nothing but increase the country's debts. To solve this, he would like to cancel any unspent bailout funds and put them to reducing the national debt.
*Healthcare: He disagrees with Congress' healthcare reform and believes it will only increase taxes on middle class families, as well senior citizens. By passing the bill, a lot of people who already have their own healthcare plan will not be able to keep it. This is another platform that Republicans support wholeheartedly. To change this, he proposes that citizens be allowed to purchase health insurance from other states (just as they can with other forms of insurance), provide a more effective method to reduce insurance costs by replacing the Pelosi-Reid bill, and allow small businesses and individuals the same tax reductions as large corporations.
*Taxes: By lowering taxes, individuals and businesses have more money to put back into the economy. He supports the extension of the tax relief bills from the earlier 2000s. This is a belief upheld by the Republican platform, mainly because it goes hand in hand with their belief that the government need to be less involved in economics and needs to spend less money.
*Environment: Rossi believes we need to expand environmentally fiscal policies. He would like to penalize those who "degrade the environment". This is not necessarily a Republican platform as Republicans believe that things like global warming are natural and are not affected by humans.
Murray: *Economy: Murray believes that in order to help struggling families and businesses, the government needs to invest money into them. This is definitely supportive of the Democratic platform because they believe in government spending to stimulate the economy. In order to meet this goal, she supports public projects like roads and infrastructure.
*Healthcare: She is a strong proponent for universal healthcare. This is another major part of the Democrat platform and is currently being debated in Congress. She wants to decrease costs of preventive and long-term care. As a part of healthcare, she also supports medical advancements through things like stem cell research in order to have the best care available.
*Taxes: As a Democrat, Murray supports government spending in order to stimulate the economy.
*Environment: Murray believes in a strong conservation policy, which is in alignment of the Democratic platform. She wants to make sure that environmental programs receive adequate funding from the government and preserve public lands.
News Stories"Rossi Is Inches Ahead of Murray"This is a short article that shows little to no bias at all. It briefly described how recent polls weigh in on the race and that Rossi has gained a slight lead. However, the race is still a toss-up as there are only a few points difference in between the two candidates. "Washington Senate--Rossi vs. Murray"This article is definitely biased towards Rossi. The author clearly has a dislike for Murray, if calling her a "socialist" was any clue. The article states that Rossi's former race for governor in 2004 was "stolen" from him. The author is a basically very anti-Democrat as he refers to them as socialists and blames them for the unemployment rates. He doesn't necessary say how much of a better choice that Rossi is, he was mainly just bashing the Democrats rather than pointing out Rossi's positive points. "Murray Deserves Re-Election"
The title basically says it all. This is obviously very biased towards Murray and talks about all the reasons why she should hold onto her seat as governor. At first it was confusing because the author said that he hoped the Republicans won the majority at the upcoming elections but then said that Murray is an effective governor. Despite the author's dislike for the Democratic party as a whole, he supports Murray and states that Rossi relies on "feel good language" while providing faulty logic for his arguments.
Washington Senate Race Comes to a Close
With elections tomorrow, the race for the Washington Senate remains one of the toughest to accurately predict the outcome of. Even though opinion polls have been cast, the margin for error makes the results untrustworthy.
Election 2011: Washington Senate
The election for the Washington Senate remains a Toss-Up race. An accurate prediction for the race is unobtainable from polls, which place the two candidates 1-3%, which is well within the error range.
Just based on these polls and articles, I can't really make a decision on the race. At this point, I'd probably say that Patty Murray has the better chance of winning, if only because she is an incumbent. People probably feel more comfortable with her in office. Even though the Democratic party has fallen in favor lately, it's obvious that the people of Washington feel as though she's doing a good job if the race is so close.
Murrary is currently slightly ahead of Rossi, though results are not complete yet. With the current state of still counting the votes, the race is still a toss up and will be watched very closely for the next few days.
Washington Senate Election: Dino Rossi vs. Patty Murray
Bios:
*Dino Rossi, Republican: As a Republican, he believes in decreasing the amount of government spending. He has served on the Washington State Senate before (1997-2003) and was a chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, where he was in charge of controlling the state budget. In 2004, he became the most successful gubernatorial candidate for Republicans in decades by appealing to other Party members (moderate Democrats and Independents). He is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the School of Business at Seattle University.
*Patty Murray, Democrat: · Murray is now serving her third term in the Senate and started out as an advocate for children’s rights. She is also an advocate for veterans’ rights. Murray serves on the Senate of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee. As a Democrat, she supports universal healthcare. She also supports increased border security. Some of her main concerns are to improve transportation and public projects.
Key Issues in Election:
*Government spending
*Healthcare
Polls:
Current popularity polls:
*Rossi (R): 48%
*Murray (D): 46%
When "leaners" are included:
*Rossi: 50%
*Murray: 47%
Favorability from Washington voters:
*Rossi: 25% Very Favorably, 26% Very Unfavorably
*Murray: 30% Very Favorably, 32% Very Unfavorably
Relations to Party Platforms:
Rossi:
*Economy: Rossi supports restricted government spending. This is one of the primary platforms for Republicans so he is perfectly aligned with them on that. He believes the Obama stimulus package has done nothing but increase the country's debts. To solve this, he would like to cancel any unspent bailout funds and put them to reducing the national debt.
*Healthcare: He disagrees with Congress' healthcare reform and believes it will only increase taxes on middle class families, as well senior citizens. By passing the bill, a lot of people who already have their own healthcare plan will not be able to keep it. This is another platform that Republicans support wholeheartedly. To change this, he proposes that citizens be allowed to purchase health insurance from other states (just as they can with other forms of insurance), provide a more effective method to reduce insurance costs by replacing the Pelosi-Reid bill, and allow small businesses and individuals the same tax reductions as large corporations.
*Taxes: By lowering taxes, individuals and businesses have more money to put back into the economy. He supports the extension of the tax relief bills from the earlier 2000s. This is a belief upheld by the Republican platform, mainly because it goes hand in hand with their belief that the government need to be less involved in economics and needs to spend less money.
*Environment: Rossi believes we need to expand environmentally fiscal policies. He would like to penalize those who "degrade the environment". This is not necessarily a Republican platform as Republicans believe that things like global warming are natural and are not affected by humans.
Murray:
*Economy: Murray believes that in order to help struggling families and businesses, the government needs to invest money into them. This is definitely supportive of the Democratic platform because they believe in government spending to stimulate the economy. In order to meet this goal, she supports public projects like roads and infrastructure.
*Healthcare: She is a strong proponent for universal healthcare. This is another major part of the Democrat platform and is currently being debated in Congress. She wants to decrease costs of preventive and long-term care. As a part of healthcare, she also supports medical advancements through things like stem cell research in order to have the best care available.
*Taxes: As a Democrat, Murray supports government spending in order to stimulate the economy.
*Environment: Murray believes in a strong conservation policy, which is in alignment of the Democratic platform. She wants to make sure that environmental programs receive adequate funding from the government and preserve public lands.
News Stories "Rossi Is Inches Ahead of Murray"This is a short article that shows little to no bias at all. It briefly described how recent polls weigh in on the race and that Rossi has gained a slight lead. However, the race is still a toss-up as there are only a few points difference in between the two candidates. "Washington Senate--Rossi vs. Murray"This article is definitely biased towards Rossi. The author clearly has a dislike for Murray, if calling her a "socialist" was any clue. The article states that Rossi's former race for governor in 2004 was "stolen" from him. The author is a basically very anti-Democrat as he refers to them as socialists and blames them for the unemployment rates. He doesn't necessary say how much of a better choice that Rossi is, he was mainly just bashing the Democrats rather than pointing out Rossi's positive points. "Murray Deserves Re-Election"
The title basically says it all. This is obviously very biased towards Murray and talks about all the reasons why she should hold onto her seat as governor. At first it was confusing because the author said that he hoped the Republicans won the majority at the upcoming elections but then said that Murray is an effective governor. Despite the author's dislike for the Democratic party as a whole, he supports Murray and states that Rossi relies on "feel good language" while providing faulty logic for his arguments.
Washington Senate Race Comes to a Close
With elections tomorrow, the race for the Washington Senate remains one of the toughest to accurately predict the outcome of. Even though opinion polls have been cast, the margin for error makes the results untrustworthy.
Election 2011: Washington Senate
The election for the Washington Senate remains a Toss-Up race. An accurate prediction for the race is unobtainable from polls, which place the two candidates 1-3%, which is well within the error range.
Just based on these polls and articles, I can't really make a decision on the race. At this point, I'd probably say that Patty Murray has the better chance of winning, if only because she is an incumbent. People probably feel more comfortable with her in office. Even though the Democratic party has fallen in favor lately, it's obvious that the people of Washington feel as though she's doing a good job if the race is so close.
After Elections Results
Murrary is currently slightly ahead of Rossi, though results are not complete yet. With the current state of still counting the votes, the race is still a toss up and will be watched very closely for the next few days.